Hungry Like the Wolf
by housepotterNCIS
Summary: Remus's daughter, Celia, is eleven years old, and she refuses to take her Wolfsbane potion. Can her Uncle Severus convince her that it's necessary? (Set in "Parents With a Cause" universe, which is a crossover universe between NCIS, House, MD, and Harry Potter. This one is almost exclusively Harry Potter, though, with a slight NCIS mention. Can be read as a stand-alone piece.)


**A/N: This is set in my "Parents With a Cause" universe, though it can probably be read as a stand-alone piece. Comes probably three or four months before "Meet the Connellys." Deals with the relationship between Severus and Remus, as well as the relationship between Severus and Celia (Remus's daughter). If you have any questions about the "Parents with a Cause" universe, please check my profile before asking me. You're welcome to ask any questions after, just check there first. Also, PLEASE REVIEW! **

There was a knock at the front door. Remus, expecting this visitor and too tired to greet the man properly, waved his wand to unlock the door. "Come on in, Severus!"

Severus came around the corner levitating the cauldron of Wolfsbane in front of him. He set it down by the door and warded it so that it could not be tipped over. He'd learned that lesson when Celia was just a toddler, and as hard as the potion was to brew, it wasn't a lesson the potions master was apt to forget.

Severus used a chalice to scoop some Wolfsbane up for Remus, and he carried it over with a sour expression on his mouth. "If you're too lazy to answer the door, Wolf, I suppose you're too lazy to get your own potion as well."

Remus looked up tiredly from the couch and simply took the potion from Severus. The days leading up to a transformation had always been exhausting, but in the years since Celia had been born, they had become increasingly more so. He could hardly expect his young daughter to do well leading up to a transformation, after all, and he was determined to be more understanding with her than his parents had ever been with him. Not that he blamed his parents any—they did the best they could with him.

"Drink your potion, Wolf," Severus said. It was not lost on Remus that Severus's voice had softened considerably, nor that behind the man's dark eyes there was a touch of concern.

Remus brought the potion to his lips. He closed his eyes and chugged it, trying to swallow as much as possible before the taste touched his lips. Severus had been making that potion for him for free since Celia was born eleven years ago, and Remus had been taking it for three years before that. He should have been used to the taste by then, but every time he took it, it made his stomach tighten in anguish. And as always after taking it, Remus rasped out the words, "Thank you, Severus."

Severus nodded shortly. He said, "I'll take a cup up to your daughter."

"I can do that," Remus said.

Severus sneered. "You can't answer your door. You can barely speak. But you think you can walk upstairs and get into a battle of wills with Celia?"

Remus looked away, shamed by his illness.

Severus touched a hand to Remus's shoulder. The contact was brief, and by the time Remus looked up Severus was sneering at him again, but Remus knew that he hadn't imagined it, and it was all that mattered.

For the second time that day, Remus whispered, "Thank you, Severus."

Severus walked up the creaking stairs of Remus's house, holding a chalice of Wolfsbane in his hand. As a potions master, Severus was used to the fact that most potions smelled terrible and tasted even worse. Most of the time, he had no patience for people who complained about the taste of potions that would help them exponentially. As always with Severus, however, Celia was the exception.

He paused outside the door to her room. Her door was cracked, and for a moment Severus looked in. She was lying on her stomach on the floor, thumbing through a book. Her hair, long and black, fell about her shoulders gracefully. From this angle, she looked so much like her mother that Severus felt his throat tighten.

"You're not being stealthy, you know," Celia said, breaking the spell Severus was under. "I can smell that disgusting potion a mile away."

"Indeed." Severus pushed open her door and, stepping over a stuffed monkey, entered her room. His eyes scanned over the room, noting the chaos with dismay. Celia was normally a neat-freak. It was only in the days leading up to the full moon that her room fell down around her.

"I'm not taking the potion," Celia said.

Severus sighed. He had the same conversation with Celia every month—had done since she was old enough to speak—and though every month he managed to convince her to take it, he knew that the time was fast approaching when her stubbornness would outweigh his. She was like her mother in that sense.

"It makes me want to hurl," Celia said. "And in any case, I don't get the _point_. Why should I have to take some stupid, slobbery potion to make my mind work right if you guys are just gonna lock me up like an animal anyway? I think I'd rather _not _remember, thank you very much."

"If we locked you up like an animal, you'd be in chains," Severus said. "We'd have to lock you in them before the transformation. Do you really want that? Do you want to remember us putting shackles on your arms and legs?"

Celia lifted her chin a notch. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Severus pressed his lips together in a tight line, though in truth he was fighting back a smile. "Clearly I need to have a word with your Uncle Tony. He's allowing you to watch films that are far too mature for you."

"It's _Gone With the Wind_," Celia said, exasperated. "It's a 1939 American classic. It's got Clark Gable in it, for Merlin's sake. How bad can it be?"

Severus lifted an eyebrow. "Your father would not approve of you saying 'I don't give a damn,' and I _certainly _don't. If your uncle is allowing you to watch movies that are teaching you differently, then he needs to start picking different movies."

Celia flushed. "I… I won't do it again."

"Hmm." Severus frowned. "Fine. Now come take your potion, Celia, before I get really cross."

"You can't _make _me take a potion," Celia said. "It's probably not even legal. And what are you going to do once I get to Hogwarts? Are you gonna drag me down to your office and force-feed me Wolfsbane there?"

"If that's what it takes, yes," Severus said. "Celia, when you're eighteen, you can make any choices regarding the potion that you want. While I would hope that at that time you would continue to take your potion regularly, you're right, I can not force you to at that point. _Right now_, however, you are a minor and your father and I are certainly within our rights to make you take medicine that's good for you."

"But…"

"Quite frankly," Severus pressed, "I would have thought that you'd have gotten over this childish need to fight us on this a long time ago. You are _eleven years old_, Celia. Surely you're old enough to get over the fact that it tastes bad and take a potion that will make your life easier."

"I don't care about how it tastes!" Celia sat up quickly, her amber eyes flashing. "I _told _you already, what I don't like is the fact that I take this stupid potion so I can retain my human mind, but then I'm still treated like a rabid dog after I transform. For Merlin's sakes, Uncle Sev, I'm _locked in my room _for the entire transformation. I've got all this energy coursing through me—more energy than I have the whole rest of the month combined—and I'm locked in a time room with no way to get it out. It's _torture_. I'm sorry if you don't like to hear that, but it's the truth. I'd rather you stick me in shackles and for me to only remember a few minutes of it clearly than for you to lock this door and not let me out all night. It _hurts_. Don't you get it? It physically hurts me to stay in here after I've taken that!"

Lupin was still on the couch where Severus had left him when Severus returned. He looked pale and weak. _Sickly_. Severus had always assumed that Lupin had gotten so much sicker after Celia's birth because he was stuck taking care of a small child, but what if that wasn't it? If what Celia had said was correct, then there was another explanation for why Lupin was so ill right now.

"Remus?" Severus said.

Lupin looked up, surprise etched in his eyes. It was rare that Severus called him by his first name when there were no children around to hear.

"How do you feel when you're a wolf?" Severus asked.

Lupin frowned. "What do you mean? Are you talking about the transformation? I've told you that's quite painful…"

"No," Severus said. "I mean after the transformation. When you're just a wolf. How do you feel?"

Lupin shook his head. "Why? Where's this coming from?"

"Celia said she's energetic," Severus said. "She says she's more energetic than the rest of the month combined."

A shadowed look crossed over Remus's face. "I… yes. That's not an inaccurate description."

"Is it torture to be locked up in one room?" Severus asked. "With all that energy… At least when we were kids, you had the whole shack to run around in."

Remus shut his eyes. "I used to run around in the forbidden forest sometimes, too."

"You did?"

Remus swallowed. "It was dangerous, Severus. It shouldn't have happened. The near-misses I had… What if I'd bitten another child?"

"You didn't have Wolfsbane then to help you."

"No." Remus met Severus's eyes. "I didn't."

"Celia has Wolfsbane." Severus met Remus's eyes. "We'd tell the others, of course. They'd keep their kids indoors. But even if for some reason one of the children was foolish enough to sneak out, Celia would have her right mind. She wouldn't hurt them."

"I…" Remus looked away, down at the fibers on his sofa. "She'd never be able to live with herself after."

"It won't get to that," Severus said. "She'll be able to resist, and anyway, you'll be right there with her."

Remus hesitated a moment longer, but in the end he nodded.

Severus nodded as well. This time when he put his hand on Remus's shoulder, he actually met the man's eyes.

"Thank you," Remus whispered.

Severus swallowed, and in a rough voice he said, "For Celia."

Remus wasn't sure which Celia the man was talking about—the one upstairs in her room, or her mother—Severus's twin sister—whose final sacrifice to the world had been giving birth to a werewolf during a full moon. In that moment, however, it didn't matter which Celia Severus was talking about. Remus fought back tears for both of them.


End file.
